The Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, has said that his administration has spent over N40 billion constructing drainages in over 300 communities in the state to save the people from yearly flooding.
Speaking to reporters on Monday in the state capital, he asserted that the measure has not only saved lives but properties and infrastructure.
Masari emphasized that his administration focused on what advances the lives of the people, especially education and health rather than the gigantic infrastructure that attracts temporary praise.
He said: “I spent over N40 billion constructing drainages in over 300 communities across the state. That’s why throughout the heavy rains of 2022, there was no recorded major flooding in Katsina. We didn’t lose lives, we didn’t lose properties and we didn’t lose our roads or bridges or culverts.
“But this is money that we spent on ordinary people.”
He said he had been prudent with the resources of the state in a way that he noted had confounded critics, saying specifically that people found it hard to believe that one of the legacy projects President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned last week in the state, the Revenue House, was implemented at the cost of just N800 million.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives added: “So, if I take N40 billion and start building all these things, Katsina would have been littered with this kind of buildings. Then, people will shout, ‘Masari is working,’ when my people are dying, are losing their lands, are losing their houses. What are we talking about?
“That’s why I say leadership is not about how well you dress but how well you deliver because at the end of the day, after how many years you put in office, you will be able to sleep with your eyes closed.”
Masari said even though President Buhari is from the state, as governor, he had never gone to Abuja to solicit funds from him.
According to him, “by May, Buhari will be eight years in office. But for me as his governor, I have never been to Abuja for Buhari to give me N1 to support Katsina. I will not do it.
“You see, he’s the president of Nigeria and not the president of Katsina. He is the president of Nigeria. You what we missed, that’s how our leaders here were. If you’re a leader, you are a leader for all.
“The oath of office did not say where you come from, did not say your political party; they say Nigerians. So, those who elected you and those who didn’t vote for you, you are ultimately responsible and liable. That’s leadership. ”
The governor lamented the effect of banditry in the state, describing the phenomenon as unique in view of the fact that the perpetrators share similar culture, traditions and religion with the victims.
He said: “We never bargained to have the kind of situation we found ourselves because our own in the northwest and especially in Katsina, is unique in the sense that these are the same people, professing the same religion, the same tribe, the same culture. And yet, they are killing themselves.
“People who were sharing the same market yesterday, who were sharing the worship places yesterday, who were visiting each other, attending each other’s ceremony, suddenly found themselves killing each other. Why?”
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